The night started at a QuikTrip gas station on West Florissant Rd., near where Brown was shot.  Citizens looted, broke the windows and set the gas station on fire. The riot continued to other businesses and local restaurants, Auto Zone, beauty and other retail stores. These businesses have all been robbed, destroyed and some have statements spray painted on their walls saying, “The only good cop is a dead cop” and “Kill cops.” 

It was hard to look on Facebook, Twitter and other social media these past 24+ hours and see a place so familiar to me. I lived just 10 minutes away. I have seen three types of posts on social media: ignorance, philosophical, and informational.   

Ignorant comments were posted on all forms of social media. There were videos posted of the QuikTrip burning down and you hear people in the background who participated in the riot laughing, cheering and a man saying, “Man, I shoulda grabbed them Cheetos.” Hateful racial stereotypes were posted as well. People posted tweets about the protesters needing welfare when people of all races suffer from poverty. And you posting a hateful or “funny” comment isn’t going to undo what has happened or stop the hate, only fuel it. And posting that the officer shot Brown because of his race is also ignorance at it’s finest. Close-minded people who don’t know the full story of what happened between Brown and the officer construct these posts. I’m not saying what the officer did was right, but destroying our community and hurting innocent bystanders isn’t going to reach peace.   

Just like when most major issues happen, everyone becomes a critic or the next problem solver via Facebook status. I do enjoy the positive posts over the negative, but if you want your words to actually mean something, then do something. A photo was tweeted by Saint Louis Journal of citizens of Ferguson cleaning up at the QuikTrip on Monday. Those are the posts that actually have a meaning; it shows people taking action in a positive way.   

Through all these countless posts, there are some that do provide valid information. Links to local news stories, videos and photos are hard to read, watch, and look at, but do help give a sense of the madness that is going on. It’s important for citizens to know the real story. 

Some of the actions and destruction that happened are things that you read about in history books during the Civil Rights Movement. We shouldn’t be letting history repeat itself, because more harm than good is coming from all of this. These riots are not even in support of Brown’s death anymore. Law enforcements have said that Brown’s family says the riots are like putting salt in their own wounds. If the protestors want their voice to matter, they can’t create madness and destruction. If we want peace, we have to work together as a community to end the racial divide.